Stepping out a bit here and for two reasons, 1) I really
like the Fins tonight, and 2) I really like Sunday’s card and feel even with a
loss tonight, I feel good about profiting for the week.So, I’ll take a shot.The Buffalo Bills return home after a valiant
effort against the high octane NE Patriots where they fell short in their upset
bid losing 37-31 and dropping their record to 3-6.The Bills did a lot of things well, one of
which was running the football effectively.In their 9 games this season, the
Bills have faced three teams who have held their opponents on average to less
than 100 yards per game.Those teams
are San Francisco, Houston and New England who they played twice and tonight
Miami becomes the 4th team to join this club.In the four games against defenses holding
opponents under 100 yards per game, Buffalo has rushed for an average of 105
yards, much of that damage coming last week where they got 162 yards vs. the
Patriots.In the three previous games,
Buffalo rushed for 98, 89 and 74 yards.In the 5 games against opponents who allow more than 100 yards, the
Bills have rushed for an average of 173 yards.Miami has held opponents to an average of 94 yards on the ground and for
better or worse the Bills will be without the services of Fred Jackson
tonight.Another thing the Miami
defense does well is limit the stats of opposing QBs.This season, opposing QBs have an 80.1 QB rating
against the Miami defense.Ryan
Fitzpatrick, who will go at the Fins defense tonight, basically feasts on the
poor defense and struggles with the good units.In four games this season against teams who have held QBs to a rating
under 85, Fitzpatrick’s actual rating has been 69.In these games he has thrown 3 touchdowns
against 4 interceptions.In the other
five games against defense where QBs have a rating higher than 85, Fitzpatrick
holds a 103.7 rating and has thrown 14 touchdowns against 6 interceptions.Lastly, and this one shouldn’t carry too much
merit, but since 2008 the Buffalo Bills are 1-4 in the week following a game
against NE where they covered the spread.In the following game, Buffalo is being outscored 28-19.It could be that they put all their energy
into trying to beat the Pats and though they put up a good fight, they exert so
much energy that the next game is a big let down.Who knows.We will see how that plays out tonight.It’s real simple for the Dolphins tonight.Stop the run and win the turnover battle and
they will win this game.In every game
this year where Miami won the turnover margin, they have won the game.In the wins, they are +4.In the losses, they are -10.Playing right into that game plan are the
Buffalo Bills who have a -10 turnover margin on the year.Only the Kansas City Chiefs have turned the
ball over more than the Buffalo Bills.Take away the two bookend games for the Dolphins and conceivably Miami
could be 7-2.They have three losses by
a combined 9 points, two of which went into OT.

I logged back on just to say fantastic right up and I think you have the right read on this game. Especially when it comes to the turnover battle. However, a word of caution about your analysis of the Bills running game. Their opponents this season combine to allow an average of 4.1 yards per carry. The Bills are averaging 5.3 YPC. This differential of +1.2 YPC ranks #1 in the NFL. So while they have played an easy schedule in terms of run defenses, they're still shredding those teams to the tune of +1.2 YPC. The Dolphins have a good run game looking at traditional stats (3.8 YPC ranks #5 in the NFL). But if you run the same type of schedule normalized differential, they're holding opponents to only -0.1 YPC less than they average (ranks #14). Point is: I have stats to suggest that the Bills running game still measures as elite when normalized relative to their strength of schedule. And I have stats to suggest the Fins run defense isn't as good as they look on the surface - in fact have benefited from an easy schedule themselves. These reasons - and the road divisional game on TNF angle - kept me off the Dolphins tonight even though they're the better team overall.

I love the writeup...but the short week gives less time to repair/recover ...its just tough for me to trust those stats in ur writeup bc those games did not occur after 3 days rest...Look forward Sunday

Thanks for the post fellas.. Dolphins had two chances to win after really looking horrendous all night. Plain and simple, they lost the turnover battle, hence lost the game. No regrets about taking a stab on Miami, but never love starting the week down

UNBELIEVABLE WEALTH OF KNOWLEDGE ON BOTH SIDES THIS IS WHAT THESE FORUMS SHOULD BE ABOUT-si1ly

another great move

Originally Posted by si1ly:

I logged back on just to say fantastic right up and I think you have the right read on this game. Especially when it comes to the turnover battle. However, a word of caution about your analysis of the Bills running game. Their opponents this season combine to allow an average of 4.1 yards per carry. The Bills are averaging 5.3 YPC. This differential of +1.2 YPC ranks #1 in the NFL. So while they have played an easy schedule in terms of run defenses, they're still shredding those teams to the tune of +1.2 YPC. The Dolphins have a good run game looking at traditional stats (3.8 YPC ranks #5 in the NFL). But if you run the same type of schedule normalized differential, they're holding opponents to only -0.1 YPC less than they average (ranks #14). Point is: I have stats to suggest that the Bills running game still measures as elite when normalized relative to their strength of schedule. And I have stats to suggest the Fins run defense isn't as good as they look on the surface - in fact have benefited from an easy schedule themselves. These reasons - and the road divisional game on TNF angle - kept me off the Dolphins tonight even though they're the better team overall.

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